Dye-ing, not dying.

My oldest daughter has plans for a black and jewel tone quilt but couldn't find exactly what she was looking for in my stash, so we decided to dye some bleached muslin (which I buy by the bolt). I don't have a picture of that yet, but I figured while she was dying things (girls' camp shirt needed some tie-dying too), I would throw in some different fabrics just to see how they'd turn out. Oh, yeah, and some diapers for burp cloths. I love those.

I have these in a before and after setup. You can see that in most there is not much difference between the before and after. I think that was due in part to the fact that the dye was running out. I should have gotten the big bottle instead of the little packet. Live and learn.

That top one looks pink in this pic, but in real life it's a decent lavender. Probably the second best result.

Overall I think I mostly just got a muddied look. Again, I think that was in part due to not enough dye. I was just throwing things in at the end to see what would happen. Some of them I WILL use. I have been thinking of a purple, black, and white quilt. Some of these just don't qualify as purple. I just used RIT dye. I saw that iDye stuff at Joann's the last time I was there, so I might try that one of these times, see if I get better results. So, overall, not a failure, because I learned something, but certainly not quite what I was going for. I'll probably try more as we dye my daughter's other fabrics. The whites obviously take it the best. We'll see. Have you ever tried dying or altering the color in your fabric?

Summer plans

Let me have a what, what! for the fact that Amanda Jean is back. Did I mention this before? Anyway, true to form, she's back to inspiring me. She's having another quilt-along. And I'm joining in. Of course. This is what I'm going to use for it.

I am so excited. It's my first Fig Tree fabric purchase, though I have long coveted Joanna's stuff. Anyway, my summer plans -- I am going to try to finish all my quilt-alongs. It's getting ridiculous how many I've started and not finished. So here's the list.

1. Christmas 9-patch from Amanda Jean's One-a-day QAL
2. Elizabeth Hartman's Paintbox QAL
3. Anina's Pinwheel Party
4. Rachel Griffiths' Pinwheel Sampler
5. ORB #1
6. ORB #4
7. ORB hexies by Julie
8. AJ's Star QAL
9. Anina's Geese in the Forest
10. Applewood Farms BOM from last year
11. AJ's new QAL
12. ORB Asterisk QAL
13. Cathy's Whirligig QAL

So now we're in the crazy room where I suggest that I can actually finish all this by the end of the summer (let's say the end of August). And I'm going to be gone all of July. And I have two finished tops from my quilt group that I need to quilt also. But I'm not going to commit to those, because, you know, that would just be too much to finish. I actually think there is no freakin' way I will finish all these by the end of the summer, BUT this will give me a list to focus on. And I definitely need help with focusing. Cross your fingers. If I DO finish all this -- I don't know how I'll reward myself, but let me tell you, it will be AWESOME! What are your summer plans? I hope you finish more than you start! = )

Guitar SupaStar!

So, the baby this is going to is already like three months old. Sometimes I'm ahead of my game, and sometimes (mostly) I'm WAAAAYYYY behind. Here I think I would call it moderately behind. This is why I'm so thankful to Jacquie and her Spring to Finish challenge. This is number 10 of 11. I finished it before the deadline, but I didn't get it posted before then. (Same thing with the previous two quilts.) Number 11 didn't make it, but I am just amazed that I finished 10. I'm going to have to challenge myself in June to finish some more -- maybe all my quilt-alongs. =/

I LOVE these Maverick stars. I did some for Amanda Jean's Quilts of Valor project last year, and then I just had to do some more. I saw some of Ashley's Maverick star quilts, and I knew I wanted to make a quilt similar to hers (and this one too).

I quilted a swirl in the centers of each block, and then I bisected each star point and followed it to the edge of the quilt. It made a lot of crisscrosses -- scrunchier in some places than in others.

It was this piece of flannel that inspired the color scheme. Little guitars -- probably came from Jill. She sent me a bunch of flannel at one point. Here's the lesson for the day -- use the exact same fabric when piecing each block on a quilt where you want the stars to look like they're floating. White is not always white. Now, normally I like the variation I get when I use different whites, but in this particular quilt, I was looking for a uniformity in the background that I didn't get. The difference was not extremely noticeable until I got it out of the washing machine, so at first I wondered if some of the green bled into it. That may still be the case. It just looks kind of yellow. I'm not going to take it apart, mind you. It's just an imperfection that is going to bug me whenever I see it (which, admittedly, will not be that often, since I'm giving it away.)

So that's a lesson for next time -- because I'm having my Common Threads group make me Maverick stars in citrus colors (mostly based off of Riley Blake's Summer Song). Use the same white.

Black Raspberries and Cream

This is another of Elizabeth Hartman's designs. It is the Mod Sampler Quilt-along. I finished my first one last year, and then my quilting group wanted to do it as well. So I quilted along with them and did another version. I need to post theirs as well. Everyone's turned out so different. That's what's so fun about this pattern. Well, I suppose that's really true of most patterns. Same pattern, different fabrics = completely different feel to the quilt.

Her pattern calls for a 5x6 layout of blocks -- making six of each block and saving six to go on the back. I decided once again that I wanted it slightly bigger, so I did eight of each block, thus creating a 6x8 layout. Finished quilt is 62x82-ish. All from scraps laying around my house, but I did try to make each set of six out of the same two fabrics -- some had to be substituted a little.

I had no blocks leftover for the back, but I did have this crazy piece of black and white that is pretty much perfect for this quilt -- and that I really didn't know where else I was going to use it. That pink was yardage I got from my LQS when they had a finish-the-bolt sale last year. It's Santorini by Lila Tueller. Very soft. I must confess that I don't like this one as much as my first one. I think it's just all the colors on the other one. I do like each individual fabric on this quilt though -- very fun and interesting. There are lots of vintage black and white prints (read: very, very old and unidentifiable). It's for my SIL -- well, soon to be SIL. The wedding is on Saturday and it's a wedding gift. I started the quilt not necessarily FOR her, but when it turned up that these are actually her wedding colors, I decided it had to go to her. I have plans for another quilt for my brother. I didn't finish it in time for Jacquie's challenge, but I still have to finish it before I leave the state on Friday.

Giraffe Quilt

Some quilts I have no problem naming, and others are more difficult for me. And don't even ask me about labeling. I'm terrible at labeling them. =/

I pieced this quilt a good eight years ago. My SIL had gotten some of the giraffe fabric with pink, and I liked it in the green colorway. I let it sit so long before quilting it that I had a hard time matching the back to the front. And of course, I used every ever-loving piece of it to make the front, although, if there were any scraplets left, I wouldn't be able to find them anyway due to their advanced age. Anyway, so I quilted it last year, but I had the same problem with binding that I had with the backing -- the greens were not quite the right match -- all the ones I could track down. Admittedly, it wasn't a hard-fought search to find the perfect binding, but at the same time, even in my lackadaisical quest, I was unwilling to settle for a weird color for the binding. So I finally decided on brown -- I'm pretty sure it's Quilter's Only from Joann's -- that chocolatey brown color. And I think it's growing on me.

Diagonal crosshatch (which has ever been my go-to mode of quilting should ideas fail me). It doesn't make for as scrunchy of a quilt after washing, but at this point I'm going with, "Hey, it's done, and it's another boy quilt to add to my stack." And I really do still like the colors.

Spring to Finish Blocks!

I do not know what is up with my personality, but I just keep starting stuff and not finishing. I am a walking disaster in most parts of my life. I used to be so decisive, and now I'm floundering. But enough about me. Here I am finishing stuff I said I would. The last eight Paintbox blocks.

I had stopped, because my Kona roll had like four greens left, and I didn't have anything in those particular colors of green. I was stumped. I didn't want to buy any more fabrics, so I just set the thing aside in my mind -- undecided as to what to do. Then I found the other Kona roll I had purchased -- I think it was the pastel colorway. Anyway, I just pulled four colors from there and finished it up. The pastels might not go with my brights as well, but I just needed to get it done. I think it will be fine. They'll blend in.

So, yeah, all 80 blocks are done! I realize that the quilt-along is over and a lot of people have their entire quilts done. I'm making progress, so that's good enough for me. I'll put that on my next list. This checks off one more on my Spring to Finish challenge. Yay me! (And, seriously, yay, Jacquie for getting us to do this. There are only like five days left.)

Three blocks for Nadia.

I loved her fabrics so much that I ended up making three. I'm three months late, though, so hopefully that makes up for it. And I'm hoping that she has been too busy with her new baby to put this quilt together. =/

(All these are for Common Threads.) For Amanda.

And for Wendy.

Wendy wanted a neighborhood quilt like the one from Material Obsession. (I think it was their first book?) Luckily, she said we could wear pants. I do wear dresses to church on Sunday, but that's about it. I'm jeans and t-shirt, blend into the background, no-one-notice-me kind of girl. And also, I am not fond of lace. I'm really not that girly. So my person is rather plain, but it is reflective of who I am. Also, I didn't put shoes on my person, because I'm usually barefoot (although not footless, as shown above). Nor am I bald. Okay. Okay. So it's not an exact replica, people.

However, that DOES catch me up for Common Threads, and it's my month to send stuff out -- which I am hoping to do today. Yeah, I'm a little late. Who's surprised? Anyway, so that makes four more to check off my Spring to Finish list. Five days, four items. Can she do it? We will see.

Calen's Quilt

In case any of you don't know it yet, I love Elizabeth Hartman's designs. She produces such clean lines. This is another of hers, the Charm Squares Baby Quilt. However, true to form, I modified it slightly. She uses charm squares in her version. I just had some half yards, so I cut my squares 5 1/2 inches instead of using charm squares. So hence, I also cut the rectangles 3 x 5 1/2 inches. For the sashing strips between the rows of blocks I cut four strips that were 3 inches by about 38. The upper and lower borders were cut 5 1/2 inches wide by about 38. Well, I cut them WOF, and then trimmed them. My washed and crinkly quilt measures approximately 37 1/4 x 44 1/4.

Back

I used the straight/zigzagged stitch on my regular machine. I guess I don't know what it's called, but it's the one where it stitches three straight stitches up, then three stitches down to form a zigzag. I just liked the wavy look it gave to the quilt.

Fun striped binding.

Michael Miller fabrics except for the gray, which is Kona Coal. It's for my baby nephew who was born at least a month ago. Counts for my Spring to Finish Challenge, so I can check it off my list!